Notes: Eli says hello to Newman; Center joins PS

Bengals cornerback Terence Newman heads into Sunday's 1 p.m. game at Paul Brown Stadium against the Giants as the co-interception leader of the Manning brothers following his two picks of Peyton Manning last Sunday against the Broncos.

Newman, who played the previous nine seasons for New York's NFC East rival Cowboys, has intercepted Giants quarterback Eli Manning four times and according to the Elias Sports Bureau those six are tied with Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall for the Manning interception lead.

Eli came into the NFL in 2004, a year after Newman, and he's 1-1 against the Bengals with a passer rating of 73.4, on 45-of-80 passing for 490 yards with one TD and an interception. The one pick came in the Bengals 2004 win at PBS during Eli's rookie year when defensive lineman Carl Powell got one. Manning had to go OT to beat the Bengals in 2008 at old Giants Stadium, when he was 26-of-43 for 289 yards and one TD in a 26-23 win best remembered for Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer suffering what would later be diagnosed as a season-ending elbow injury.

SLANTS AND SCREENS

» The Bengals made a practice squad move Tuesday when they signed rookie center Scott Wedige and released rookie fullback Jourdan Brooks. The 6-4, 310-pound Wedige, a free agent out of Northern Illinois, played in all five Cardinals preseason games before being waived by Arizona on Aug. 31. He was signed to the Giants practice squad Sept. 8 and released nine days later. Brooks, of Morgan State, was with the Bengals in preseason and had been on the practice squad all season.

With center Kyle Cook (ankle) expected back before the end of the season and head coach Marvin Lewis indicating he'll have both Jeff Faine and Trevor Robinson at his disposal against the Giants, it’s believed the move is for insurance rather than for an emergency. Faine and Robinson have each left the last two games with a hamstring injury.

» The game, which is not yet sold out, is being carried by Fox on Cincinnati's Channel 19 in a reunion broadcast. Cincinnatian Thom Brennaman, a voice of the Reds, is doing the play-by-play with analyst Brian Billick, Lewis's head coach when he was the defensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Ravens.

» Sunday is the 28th time the Bengals play a regular-season game against the defending Super Bowl champions and they are 9-18. They've won those nine in the last 19 games with a 6-6 home record and 2-2 at PBS. The Bengals are 1-1 against the champion Giants with that '08 loss countered by a 1991 win at Riverfront.

Everyone saw it coming, but it still didn’t make it any easier Friday when the Bengals released one of their more versatile players and valued leaders across the defensive front and around the locker room in 11-year veteran Robert Geathers.